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Mab

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    Memorial Park At 6501 Memorial Dr.

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted

    http://www.chron.com/life/article/Memorial-Park-proposal-bridges-history-and-ecology-5763029.php?cmpid=bna

     

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    emorial Park could dramatically change if a long-range master plan being proposed is adopted byHouston City Council.

    The long-range plan was commissioned by theHouston Parks and Recreation Department, the Uptown Park tax increment reinvestment zone and the privately-funded Memorial Park Conservancy. The internationally-renowned landscape architecture firmNelson Byrd Woltz is nearly three months into a 10-month design process, and should have the master plan complete by April, when it would go before the council for a vote.

    The city's premiere park stretches across 1,500 acres, almost twice as large as New York's Central Park. But to Thomas Woltz, Nelson Byrd Woltz principal, it feels much smaller. Over time the land has been divided into 24 tracts by roads, railroads and recreational amenities.

    At a public meeting Wednesday, Woltz presented his firm's initial design strategies and the reasoning behind them - which were driven by previous public input and a year's research by a team of about 70 local experts in fields like soil science, ecology, history and archaeology.

    He used maps, drawings and aerial views to explain the park's ecological and cultural histories, also unveiling a dramatic solution to one of the landscape's biggest problems. Woltz is proposing a grass- and tree-covered land bridge, 800 feet long, that would rise gently across Memorial Drive, over a tunnel, to reconnect the park's north and south sides.

    While it's not realistic to remove the street, which is crucial to Houston's traffic circulation, the land bridge is "a kind of triumph ... the park wins," Woltz said.The current pedestrian bridge on the park's western side, completed in 2009, was an important first gesture toward stitching the park's landscape back together, Woltz said. "This land bridge builds on that beginning at a much larger scale."

    That's just the most visible aspect of a plan that would also restore the damaged ecology, enhance recreational amenities and optimize the park's potential to be what he calls a "performative" landscape. A natural pond system, for example, could be used to irrigate the golf course, saving 68 million gallons of water a year.

    Woltz envisions a mixed landscape of savannah, wetlands and prairie, more like what the Karankawas experienced when they lived in the area centuries ago. And he would add a tribute to the soldiers of Camp Logan, the World War I training camp that was there from 1917 to 1919. Those plans will be revealed at the next public meeting on Nov. 10.

    The park's recreational amenities also would be improved. High-activity areas currently on the park's south side could be relocated within the park to protect the least-disturbed, fragile ecologies along the bayou - an area Woltz sees as a preserve for people on foot or on bikes.

    The Uptown Park TIRZ is committed to spending $100 to $150 million on the restoration projects and infrastructure, project director Sarah Newbery said. Memorial Park Conservancy is studying how much it can raise in the next 10 or 20 years toward the effort.

    "But we think of this in terms of a 100-year or 75-year plan. We'll execute large parts of it in the next three to 15 years; but there can be a road map for the next generation as well," conservancy executive director Shellye Alford said.

     

     

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    • Like 6

    BLVD Place Mixed-Use: 1700 Post Oak Blvd. & Upcoming Development At 1800 Post Oak Blvd.

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted

    Opening Nov 6

    http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2014/09/opening-date-set-for-blvdplace-whole-foods.html

     

    Whole Foods Market Inc. (Nasdaq: WFM) will open its Blvd Place store Nov. 6 and will include a service new to Houston shoppers.

    Not only will the 55,000-square-foot store feature the grocer's first in-house brewery, a store employee will also ride a tricycle around the market taking orders and delivering beer to customers as they shop. He or she will also deliver made-to-order snacks to customers in the brewery.

    While stores in Austin currently feature the in-store tricycle delivery service, it's a first for Houston.

    Several departments will also include brewery-inspired products. The bakery will feature hearth bread made from spent grains and beer collected from the brewery as well as malt-themed desserts.

    Located on the southwest corner of Post Oak Boulevard and San Felipe, Blvd Place will feature retail, restaurant, office and residential components. Along with the hotly anticipated Whole Foods, Frost Bankrecently announced the opening date of its regional headquarters in Blvd Place.

    Blvd Place also includes True Food Kitchen,which opened July 29, and will include a new seafood restaurant, Peska, the first U.S. restaurant from the Mexico-based Ysita family, which has received critical acclaim for its La Trainera brand.

     

    • Like 1

    East Washington At 1818-1814 Washington Ave.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    http://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/09-15-14-new-steakhouse-and-butcher-shop-set-for-revitalized-washington-ave-ready-for-rooftop-dining/

    Quote

     

    A Veteran member of Houston's restaurant community is stepping out from the corporate shadows and setting out on his own with an intriguing new concept for the east end of Washington Ave.

    Long-time Smith & Wollensky general manager Benjamin Berg announced on Saturday's edition of The Cleverley Show that he will leave the Highland Village steakhouse next month to devote himself full time to a new concept called B&R Butchers. It's the first time Berg has offered any public comment on his plans, but Swamplot noticed a liquor license application for the space back in February.  

    "It's made of old brick, really (has) a lot of character," Berg said about the building. The space's signature feature will be a roof-top patio that affords diners a view of the downtown skyline.Located in the historic Dittman Building, B&R, which Berg told host Cleverley Stone stands for his name and his grandfather Rudolph, will feature both a retail butcher shop and a steakhouse. If all goes according to plan, the concept will open in January of next year. 

    Berg didn't provide many details about the menu; he told Stone that he's hired a chef but isn't ready to reveal who. 

    B&R adds to the emerging restaurant scene at the east end of Washington. It joins recently opened cocktail bar Julep and two other upcoming concepts: Big Eyed Fish and Graffiti. 

     

    • Like 1

    Reserve At Washington: Residential Community

    in The Heights

    Posted

     

    David Weekley Homes announced Tuesday it plans to build a community of townhomes in Timber Grove.

    The new  community, called the Reserve at Washington, will be located at Hempstead Road Near 11th Street and feature three- and four-story townhomes. The builders said in a statement the new community will feature:

    • Community park with water features and trellis
    • Close proximity to Memorial Park
    • Proximity to area shopping, dining and entertainment on Washington Avenue
    • Easy access to I-10, Loop 610 and U.S. 290

    David Weekley has been building in central Houston since 2008, and has since built new homes in nearly 30 communities in and around the Heights, Rice Military, the Galleria area, Washington, Montrose, Midtown, Garden Oaks and the Spring Branch areas.

    http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2014/09/homebuilder-plans-new-timber-grove-townhome-community/

    • Like 2
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